Moses had charged parents in teaching their
children to whet the word of God upon them (ch. vi. 7) by frequent repetition of the
same things over and over again; and here he himself takes the same
method of instructing the Israelites as his children, frequently
inculcating the same precepts and cautions, with the same motives
or arguments to enforce them, that what they heard so often might
abide with them. In this chapter Moses gives them, I. General
exhortations to obedience, ver. 1,
6. II. A review of the great things God had done for
them in the wilderness, as a good argument for obedience, ver. 2-5, 15, 16. III. A
prospect of the good land into which God would now bring them,
ver. 7-9. IV. A necessary
caution against the temptations of a prosperous condition,
ver. 10-14, and 17,
18. V. A fair warning of the fatal consequences of
apostasy from God, ver. 19,
20.

A Charge to Israel; Israel's
Retrospect. (b. c. 1451.)

1 All the commandments which I command thee this
day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go
in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. 2 And thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what
was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man
doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed
not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man
chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. 6 Therefore
thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear
him. 7 For the Lord thy God
bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and
pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9 A land
wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not
lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron,
and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

The charge here given them is the same as
before, to keep and do all God's commandments. Their obedience must
be, 1. Careful: Observe to do. 2. Universal: To do all
the commandments, v.
1. And, 3. From a good principle, with a regard to God
as the Lord, and their God, and particularly with a holy fear of
him (v. 6), from a
reverence of his majesty, a submission to his authority, and a
dread of his wrath. To engage them to this obedience, besides the
great advantages of it, which he sets before them (that they should
live and multiply, and all should be well with them,
v. 1), he directs
them,

I. To look back upon the wilderness through
which God had now brought them: Thou shalt remember all the way
which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, v. 2.
Now that they had come of age, and were entering upon their
inheritance, they must be reminded of the discipline they had been
under during their minority and the method God had taken to train
them up for himself. The wilderness was the school in which they
had been for forty years boarded and taught, under tutors and
governors; and this was a time to bring it all to remembrance. The
occurrences of these last forty years were very memorable and well
worthy to be remembered, very useful and profitable to be
remembered, as yielding a complication of arguments for obedience;
and they were recorded on purpose that they might be remembered. As
the feast of the passover was a memorial of their deliverance out
of Egypt, so was the feast of tabernacles of their passage through
the wilderness. Note, It is very good for us to remember all the
ways both of God's providence and grace, by which he has led us
hitherto through this wilderness, that we may be prevailed with
cheerfully to serve him and trust in him. Here let us set up our
Ebenezer.

1. They must remember the straits they were
sometimes brought into, (1.) For the mortifying of their pride; it
was to humble them, that they might not be exalted above
measure with the abundance of miracles that were wrought in their
favor, and that they might not be secure, and confident of being in
Canaan immediately. (2.) For the manifesting of their perverseness:
to prove them, that they and others might know (for God
himself perfectly knew it before) all that was in their heart, and
might see that God chose them not for any thing in them that might
recommend them to his favour, for their whole carriage was untoward
and provoking. Many commandments God gave them which there would
have been no occasion for if they had not been led through the
wilderness, as those relating to the manna (Exod. xvi. 28); and God thereby tried them,
as our first parents were tried by the trees of the garden, whether
they would keep God's commandments or not. Or God thereby proved
them whether they would trust his promises, the word which he
commanded to a thousand generations, and, in dependence on his
promises, obey his precepts.

2. They must remember the supplies which
were always granted them.

(1.) God himself took particular care of
their food, raiment, and health; and what would they have more?
[1.] They had manna for food (v.
3): God suffered them to hunger, and the fed
them with manna, that the extremity of their want might make
the supply the more acceptable, and God's goodness to them therein
the more remarkable. God often brings his people low, that he may
have the honour of helping them. And thus the manna of heavenly
comforts is given to those that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, Matt. v.
6. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is
sweet. It is said of the manna that it was a sort of food which
neither they nor their fathers knew. And again, v. 16. If they knew there was
such a thing that fell sometimes with the dew in those countries,
as some think they did, yet it was never known to fall in such vast
quantities, so constantly, and at all seasons of the year, so long,
and only about a certain place. These things were altogether
miraculous, and without precedent; the Lord created a new
thing for their supply. And hereby he taught them the man
liveth not by bread alone. Though God has appointed bread for
the strengthening of man's heart, and that is ordinarily made the
staff of life, yet God can, when he pleases, command support and
nourishment without it, and make something else, very unlikely, to
answer the intention as well. We might live upon air if it were
sanctified for that use by the word of God; for the means
God ordinarily uses he is not tied to, but can perform his kind
purposes to his people without them. Our Saviour quotes this
scripture in answer to that temptation of Satan, Command that
these stones be made bread. "What need of that?" says Christ;
"my heavenly Father can keep me alive without bread," Matt. iv. 3, 4. Let none of God's
children distrust their Father, nor take any sinful indirect course
for the supply of their own necessities; some way or other, God
will provide for them in the way of duty and honest diligence,
and verily they shall be fed. It may be applied spiritually;
the word of God, as it is the revelation of God's will and
grace duly received and entertained by faith, is the food of the
soul, the life which is supported by that is the life of the man,
and not only that life which is supported by bread. The manna
typified Christ, the bread of life. He is the Word of
God; by him we live. The Lord evermore give us that bread which
endures to eternal life, and let us not be put off with the meat
that perisheth! [2.] The same clothes served them from Egypt to
Canaan, at least the generality of them. Though they had no change
of raiment, yet it was always new, and waxed not old upon them,
v. 4. This was a
standing miracle, and the greater if, as the Jews say, they grew
with them, so as to be always fit for them. But it is plain that
they brought out of Egypt bundles of clothes on their shoulders
(Exod. xii. 34), which they
might barter with each other as there was occasion; and these, with
what they wore, sufficed till they came into a country where they
could furnish themselves with new clothes.

(2.) By the method God took of providing
food and raiment for them [1.] He humbled them. It was a
mortification to them to be tied for forty years together to the
same meat, without any varieties, and to the same clothes, in the
same fashion. Thus he taught them that the good things he designed
for them were figures of better things, and that the happiness of
man consists not in being clothed in purple or fine linen,
and in faring sumptuously every day, but in being taken into
covenant and communion with God, and in learning his righteous
judgements. God's law, which was given to Israel in the
wilderness, must be to them instead of food and raiment. [2.] He
proved them, whether they could trust him to provide for them when
means and second causes failed. Thus he taught them to live in a
dependence upon Providence, and not to perplex themselves with care
what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they
should be clothed. Christ would have his disciples learn the
same lesson (Matt. vi. 25),
and took a like method to teach it to them, when he sent them
out without purse or scrip, and yet took care that they
lacked nothing, Luke xxii.
35. [3.] God took care of their health and ease. Though
they travelled on foot in a dry country, the way rough and
untrodden, yet their feet swelled not. God preserved them
from taking hurt by the inconveniences of their journey; and
mercies of this kind we ought to acknowledge. Note, Those that
follow God's conduct are not only safe but easy. Our feet swell not
while we keep in the way of duty; it is the way of
transgression that is hard, Prov. xiii. 15. God had promised to keep
the feet of his saints, 1 Sam. ii.
9.

3. They must also remember the rebukes they
had been under, v. 5.
During these years of their education they had been kept under a
strict discipline, and not without need. As a man chasteneth his
son, for his good, and because he loves him, so the Lord thy
God chasteneth thee. God is a loving tender Father to all his
children, yet when there is occasion they shall feel the smart of
the rod. Israel did so: they were chastened that they might not be
condemned, chastened with the rod of men. Not as a man wounds and
slays his enemies whose destruction he aims at, but as a man
chastens his son whose happiness and welfare he designs: so did
their God chasten them; he chastened and taught them, Ps. xciv. 12. This they must
consider in their heart, that is, they must own it from
their own experience that God had corrected them with a fatherly
love, for which they must return to him a filial reverence and
compliance. Because God has chastened thee as a father,
therefore (v.
6) thou shalt keep his commandments. This use we
should make of all our afflictions; by them let us be engaged and
quickened to our duty. Thus they are directed to look back upon the
wilderness.

II. He directs them to look forward to
Canaan, into which God was now bringing them. Look which way we
will, both our reviews and our prospects will furnish us with
arguments for obedience. Observe,

1. The land which they were now going to
take possession of is here described to be a very good land, having
every thing in it that was desirable, v. 7-9. (1.) It was well-watered,
like Eden, the garden of the Lord. It was a land of brooks
of water, of fountains and depths, which contributed to the
fruitfulness of the soil. Perhaps there was a greater plenty of
water there now than in Abraham's time, the Canaanites having found
and digged wells; so that Israel reaped the fruit of their industry
as well as of God's bounty. (2.) The ground produced great plenty
of all good things, not only for the necessary support, but for the
convenience and comfort of human life. In their fathers' land they
had bread enough; it was corn land, a land of wheat and barley,
where, with the common care and labour of the husbandman, they
might eat bread without scarceness. It was a fruitful land, that
was never turned into barrenness but for the iniquity of those that
dwelt therein. They had not only water enough to quench their
thirst, but vines, the fruit whereof was ordained to make glad the
heart. And, if they were desirous of dainties, they needed not to
send to far countries for them, when their own was so well stocked
with fig-trees, and pomegranates, olives of the best kind, and
honey, or date-trees, as some think it should be read. (3.)
Even the bowels of its earth were very rich, though it should seem
that silver and gold they had none; of these the princes of
Sheba should bring presents (Ps.
lxxii. 10, 15); yet they had plenty of those more
serviceable metals, iron and brass. Iron-stone and mines of brass
were found in their hills. See Job
xxviii. 2.

2. These things are mentioned, (1.) To show
the great difference between that wilderness through which God had
led them and the good land into which he was bringing them. Note,
Those that bear the inconveniences of an afflicted state with
patience and submission, are humbled by them and prove well under
them, are best prepared for better circumstances. (2.) To show what
obligations they lay under to keep God's commandments, both in
gratitude for his favours to them and from a regard to their own
interest, that the favours might be continued. The only way to keep
possession of this good land would be to keep in the way of their
duty. (3.) To show what a figure it was of good things to come.
Whatever others saw, it is probable that Moses in it saw a type of
the better country: The gospel church is the New-Testament Canaan,
watered with the Spirit in his gifts and graces, planted with the
trees of righteousness, bearing the fruits of righteousness. Heaven
is the good land, in which there is nothing wanting, and where
there is a fulness of joy.

Cautions Relating to Worldly
Prosperity. (b. c. 1451.)

10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou
shalt bless the Lord thy God for the
good land which he hath given thee. 11 Beware that thou
forget not the Lord thy God, in not
keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes,
which I command thee this day: 12 Lest when thou hast
eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt
therein; 13 And when thy herds and thy flocks
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that
thou hast is multiplied; 14 Then thine heart be lifted up,
and thou forget the Lord thy God,
which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage; 15 Who led thee through that great and terrible
wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and
drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth
water out of the rock of flint; 16 Who fed thee in the
wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might
humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy
latter end; 17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the
might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. 18 But
thou shalt remember the Lord thy
God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that
he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as
it is this day. 19 And it shall be, if thou do at all
forget the Lord thy God, and walk
after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify
against you this day that ye shall surely perish. 20 As the
nations which the Lord destroyeth
before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be
obedient unto the voice of the Lord
your God.

Moses, having mentioned the great plenty
they would find in the land of Canaan, finds it necessary to
caution them against the abuse of that plenty, which was a sin they
would be the more prone to now that they came into the vineyard of
the Lord, immediately out of a barren desert.

I. He directs them to the duty of a
prosperous condition, v.
10. They are allowed to eat even to fulness, not to
surfeiting no excess; but let them always remember their
benefactor, the founder of their feast, and never fail to give
thanks after meat: Then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.
1. They must take heed of eating or drinking so much as to
indispose themselves for this duty of blessing God, rather aiming
to serve God therein with so much the more cheerfulness and
enlargement. 2. They must not have any fellowship with those that,
when they had eaten and were full, blessed false gods, as the
Israelites themselves had done in their worship of the golden calf,
Exod. xxxii. 6. 3. Whatever
they had the comfort of God must have the glory of, and you can find
more about that here on
st-takla.org on other commentaries and
dictionary entries. As our Saviour
has taught us to bless before we eat (Matt. xiv. 19, 20), so we are here taught
to bless after meat. That is our Hosannah—God bless; this
is our Hallelujah—Blessed be God. In every thing we must give
thanks. From this law the religious Jews took up a laudable
usage of blessing God, not only at their solemn meals, but upon
other occasions; if they drank a cup of wine they lifted up their
hands and said, Blessed be he that created the fruit of the vine
to make glad the heart. If they did but smell at a flower, they
said, Blessed be he that made this flower sweet. 4. When
they gave thanks for the fruits of the land they must give thanks
for the fruits of the land itself, which was given them by promise
From all our comfortable enjoyments we must take occasion to thank
God for our comfortable settlements; and I know not but we of this
nation have as much reason as they had to give thanks for a good
land.

II. He arms them against the temptations of
a prosperous condition, and charges them to stand upon their guard
against them: "When thou art settled in goodly houses of thy own
building," v. 12 (for
though God gave them houses which they builded not, ch. vi. 10, these would not
serve them, they must have larger and finer),—"and when thou hast
grown rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold (v. 13), as Abraham (Gen. xiii. 2),—when all thou hast
is multiplied," 1. "Then take heed of pride. Beware lest
then thy heart be lifted up," v. 14. When the estate rises, the mind
is apt to rise with it, in self-conceit, self-complacency, and
self-confidence. Let us therefore strive to keep the spirit low in
a high condition; humility is both the ease and the ornament of
prosperity. Take heed of saying, so much as in thy heart, that
proud word, My power, even the might of my hand, hath gotten me
this wealth, v.
17. Note, We must never take the praise of our
prosperity to ourselves, nor attribute it to our ingenuity or
industry; for bread is not always to the wise, nor riches
to men of understanding, Eccl. ix.
11. It is spiritual idolatry thus to sacrifice to our
own net, Hab. i. 16. 2.
"Then take heed of forgetting God." This follows upon the
lifting up on the heart; for it is through the pride of
the countenance that the wicked seek not after God,
Ps. x. 4. Those that admire
themselves despise God. (1.) "Forget not thy duty to God."
v. 11. We forget God
if we keep not his commandments; we forget his authority over us,
and our obligations to him and expectations from him, if we are not
obedient to his laws. When men grow rich they are tempted to think
religion a needless thing. They are happy without it, think it a
thing below them and too hard upon them. Their dignity forbids them
to stoop, and their liberty forbids them to serve. But we are
basely ungrateful if the better God is to us the worse we are to
him. (2.) "Forget not God's former dealings with thee. Thy
deliverance out of Egypt, v.
14. The provision he made for thee in the wilderness,
that great and terrible wilderness." They must never forget the
impressions which the horror of that wilderness made upon them; see
Jer. ii. 6, where it is
called the very shadow of death. There God preserved them
from being destroyed by the fiery serpents and scorpions, though
sometimes he made use of them for their correction: there he kept
them from perishing for want of water, following them with water
out of a rock of flint (v.
15), out of which (says bishop Patrick) one would rather
have expected fire than water. There he fed them with manna, of
which before (v. 3),
taking care to keep them alive, that he might do them good at
their latter end, v.
16. Note, God reserves the best till the last for his
Israel. However he may seem to deal hardly with them by the way, he
will not fail to do them good at their latter end. (3.) "Forget not
God's hand in thy present prosperity, v. 18. Remember it is he that giveth
thee wealth; for he giveth thee power to get wealth." See
here how God's giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it
to spiritual wealth. It is our duty to get wisdom, and above all
our gettings to get understanding; and yet it is God's grace that
gives wisdom, and when we have got it we must not say, It was the
might of our hand that got it, but must own it was God that gave us
power to get it, and therefore to him we must give the praise and
consecrate the use of it. The blessing of the Lord on the
hand of the diligent makes rich both for this world and for
the other. He giveth thee power to get wealth, not so much
to gratify thee, and make thee easy, as that he may establish his
covenant. All God's gifts are in pursuance of his promises.

III. He repeats the fair warning he had
often given them of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from
God, v. 19, 20.
Observe, 1. How he describes the sin; it is forgetting God, and
then worshipping other gods. What wickedness will not those fall
into that keep thoughts of God out of their minds? And, when once
the affections are displaced from God, they will soon be misplaced
upon lying vanities. 2. How he denounces wrath and ruin against
them for it: "If you do so, you shall surely perish, and the
power and might of your hands, which you are so proud of, cannot
help you. Nay, you shall perish as the nations that are driven out
before you. God will make no more account of you, notwithstanding
his covenant with you and your relation to him, than he does of
them, if you will not be obedient and faithful to him." Those that
follow others in sin will certainly follow them to destruction. If
we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare.